A bare wall is a blank canvas waiting to be decorated. However, art can be expensive. I have found that I can decorate my walls at little or no cost simply by using photos from books or magazines.
Cheap picture frames can be found at Dollar Stores, yard sales, and thrift stores. I cut out and mount pictures from magazines I subscribe to or find free at various locations.
A local library has over-sized books available at their book sale for $1. The book covers are well worn or damaged but the pages inside are usually in good condition. Nature and gardening books often have beautiful pictures in them that look fantastic when framed.
I can very inexpensively create a wall of pictures that relate to things I'm passionate about, such as nature scenes, animals and flowers. I like to frequently alter my decor but my budget doesn't allow me to purchase new room accessories very often.
Just placing new "free" pictures on the wall will alter the atmosphere and appearance of a room. Temporarily removing standard pictures and replacing them with holiday pictures is an inexpensive way to decorate for Christmas.
By VeronicaHB from Asheboro, NC
This page contains the following solutions.
If you are on a budget, but want some really pretty art work for your walls, I have a tip for you! All you need is an 8 x 10 picture frame from your local dollar store and a magazine with pretty photographs in it.
Over the last few months, I bought a handful of interesting picture frames from second hand stores. I then spray painted them various colors and hung them on the wall in our dining room to add some texture to a large blank wall.
Hang a large rug (as art) on a wall that faces the outside of your home to help save energy and help keep out noise. A rug will also help keep a bedroom quiet if hung on an inside wall.
Want to have beautiful artwork to hang on the walls, but have a tiny budget? With a computer, printer and the help of colored pencils all things are possible.
I created this book art when decorating my son's farm bedroom. Since we went with a down on the farm theme, I wanted to incorporate some of his favorite books in artwork.
Use empty kitchen cardboard as a pallet to display favorite fabrics!
My son loves Roy Rogers, and I've looked at prints and posters to decorate his room with, but most are a little pricey for a momma on a budget.
Using Old Patterns for Artwork. When looking for a fun new piece of artwork for your laundry room (or any room really), think outside of the ordinary. . .
People are always asking about decorating walls - I just saw a great easy project at kodak.com. Search for "Digital Wall Art" at their website.
You can get nice original art at thrift stores, yard sales, etc. I have gotten into collecting thrift shop oil paintings most $5-15, and some of them would cost hundreds of dollars if bought elsewhere.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
What are some inexpensive do-it-yourself ideas for one-of-a-kind wall art? I'd like to make my own unique art for my home, but I get intimidated by those big blank canvasses at the store. They make it look so easy on decorating shows, but I can never remember how to do what they show on the shows. Any ideas?
if you have kids (or can borrow some!) have their artwork blown up into poster size and frame it.
i also like to have a wall of quotations i like in fancy print. this can be done directly on the wall with giant magic markers. if you don't like it just paint over it.
One easy thing to do is select material with a nice, artistic pattern and stretch it on a frame - stapling it on - But I prefer pictures myself - you can get big posters - Or you can emulate Chinese/Japanese brush painting on a blank canvas.....Or stamp a pattern on a colored background you have painted...just a few ideas...
If you really like what you see on the decorating shows, but just have trouble remembering the steps, you could pop in a video tape and then use it to follow along step by step at your own pace later.
have you ever stenciled? or use tape and make a geometric pattern. I used the pattern from a piece of cloth one and painted on a home stretched canvas - I simplified it to match my lack of skill - my son and his girlfriend have it over their fireplace.
Right now I'm making them a "window" I made a 4'X4' canvas and I'm just gonna paint a sky on it and then frame it in molding and mount curtains around it on the wall so it will look like a window.
If you practice using your imagination ideas will come to you.
I saw them frame a beautiful scarf once. It looked great on the wall. I have a large square scarf that I am going to try to frame
Take the blank artist canvas' to the fabric store (or at least the measurements), buy fabric that coordinates with your house, but some extra to staple on the back edges, WA LA! The next time Michael's has 50% off coupons, I am going to do it for our hallway as it has NOTHING!
If you like the stuff they do on the Carol Duvall show, all her stuff is on the website, with step by step instructions.
I didnt know what to do with a canvas either, but I love dragon flies and I had gotten a dragon fly stamp on sale at walmart. It was one of those two part stamps, so you can do the body one color and the wings another. Its about 3 inches long. So I dipped it in paint and put several multicolored dragonflies on a canvas. Took absolutely no artistic skill and its so adorable. My neices are now doing the same to their bathroom. I found some more in butterflies, ladybugs and flowers.
If you have trouble remembering how the art work was done after watching an art T.V. shows as I do, there are many many calendars out there with wonderful pictures on them. Take the picture, florals, Norman Rockwell, still life,or what ever you like. Cut out the page the picture is on, take your paint brush and just follow the lines and then fill in the other parts of picture. You now have a semi homemade picture that is wonderful. I take poster board and cut out borders or either use double stick tape on the back of you picture and center in on the poster board and go looking for frames at the resale stores, flee markets and yard sales.
Good Luck!!
I buy my poster board at the Dollar Tree and get 3 full size for $1.00 or 5 half sheets for $1.00.
Martha in TN
Unique? Things that are all You! Treasures, keepsakes, things that warm your heart, travel memories, Anything that is about you. They are selling box frames at the dollar store, so you can even frame things that aren't exactly flat. You could do groupings of things like things you have collected. Family trees...I saw one once where they used bristol board, drew a tree with many branches and cut different sized holes at the branch tips to display family and friends. When I was younger, my roomate and I pasted a huge photo montage on the kitchen wall of all the good times we had. People went right to that wall like glue to see it everytime! I also saw a display in a front foyer with all the pics scanned and photocopied in black and white and put in different frames of different shapes, all painted black on a white wall..was really nice! People love photos!
If you collect something that can be hung, like I do for my small Teddy Bears, you can simply hang them up on the wall. If they are "naked", then simply put a cool ribbon around their neck or a dollar tree bracelet (necklace for them) so you have something to hang to the nail or push pin. Thrift store small baskets and dried flowers that you gather with raffia and hang upside down also give you a "country look". I have speckled enamel ware in blue and white in my kitchen, and you can find new at Walmart or used just cruising the thrift shops. Enjoy!
This ideas great for teens or younger adults. All you need is a couple old magazines and a bulletin board or even card board & lots of staples and a pair of scissors. Go through the old magazines and cut out all your favorite celebrities. After you have them all cut out, simply take them and fit them together on the board and make a collage. Its really easy and looks great when it's done.
Never let a blank canvas intimidate you. It's just 4 pieces of cheap wood, some cloth, and a few staples. What's so intimidating about that? ~;0)
Seriously, though. What about silhouettes? They don't have to be black, they can be any color or even a combo of colors. The intensity of paint color you use it up to you. They can be bold or they can be soft.
There are literally thousands of silhouettes available for purchase, or even for free online. Any thing, image, idea, etc. can be turned into a silhouette. It's just a "shadow" of something.
If you have a camera, start looking at the shadows flowers and leaves and other things make. Take pictures. Those "shadows" can make really unique and interesting paintings, and painting this way, using only 1 or 2 colors that need no blending is a great way to start.
If you don't want to try your hand at painting them, then cut them out of paper or fabric and 'glue' to the canvas with mat medium, then cover the whole thing with gloss medium/varnish when thoroughly dry.
Any kind of paper or fabric can be used, mix prints with plain, oragami papers, papers with texture, mags etc. Use colors that are already part of your home decor palatte. You can make an entire floral still life (for example) out of different papers or fabrics ending up with your own unique one-of-a-kind collage artwork.
Scour the internet, especially the home decor/design websites for TONS of great ideas. Think outside the box and get creative!
This craft project is suitable even for younger children with supervision. Paint is applied to a piece of glass from a photo frame and then a second piece is placed on top and the paint squished to the edges. This is a page about creating squished paint artwork.
This is a page about making framed book page artwork. Embellish any printed page to make your own personalized creation.
Want some inexpensive picture frames for your decor, but don't want the expense? Save your calendars and select florals, scenes, etc. to accommodate your living decor.
Wallpaper Patterns for Wall Art. I was online searching for wallpaper. Even though I didn't find what I was looking for, I found some beautiful patterns that fit my decor perfectly. . .
